My massive dilemma about school pyramids - low income vs. more affluent? HELP ME!!
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Anonymous
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FOR YEARS now my family been struggling with a major issue. Do we stay in our current house in a fairly low-income school pyramid or move just a mile away to a more affluent pyramid with a "great" reputation? Seriously, I have been questioning this for YEARS and cannot make a decision -- but there are other issues at play as well. I just want to get feedback from people, please only respond if you have good intentions and don't make nasty remarks!
I have 3 kids, oldest will be in kindergarten in 2016-2017 (so we have a year to decide). We are in a decent neighborhood in the Camelot/Luther Jackson/Falls Church HS pyramid. If we move to my father's neighborhood just a few miles away, we are in Wakefield Forest/Frost/Woodson pyramid. We can afford to do this, although moving requires we sell our home first, live with my dad for awhile while we wait for the right house to come on the market. Anyway, our motivators for moving would be the following: 1. better schools (supposedly) 2. Closer to my ailing dad who I will have to care for 3. A nicer neighborhood with a more community feel (lots of social events, nice HOA, pool) Anyway, I hear different things about the schools. Some tell me the lower income schools (like Luther Jackson/Falls Church) receive more resources, money, smaller classes, and that my child will have a better chance of "standing out" because not every kid is trying to be Captain of the football team and in honor society and in a million clubs. Basically, there are not as many over-achievers. Downside is that the parents are not as involved because many are working 2 or 3 jobs and have little to NO time to be involved with their kids' lives at school. The kids my kids would be friends with may come from poverty.... and some may come from unconventional home situations like many families living in one apartment. There will be much more diversity, but Falls Church HS is very small, for example - maybe only 1000 kids? But the school has not been renovated mostly bc the parents don't push for it, because they aren't involved. On the other hand, if we move, We would send our kids to Wakefield Forest (which I love), but then to Frost in Woodson which seems to be filled with overachievers and high-income kids. The competition seems to be intense, class sizes are larger, less diversity, but is considered one of the finest schools in the area. My kids may not have the chance to "stand out" because most the kids are being cheered on my motivated parents. That being said, my kids would be hanging out with kids from more affluent backgrounds with more involved parents. Woodson also has seen suicides recently and is a HUGE school. Seems like a child could easily get lost there. Two other issues -- if we move to Woodson district, my kids could walk to Wakefield Forest instead of bussing it. I would be close to my ailing dad, making it easier for me to care for him (along with 3 kids), and we would live in a slightly nicer neighborhood -- houses a little nicer, more parks, pool, etc. Mostly, I would like opinions about the school situation. What is your opinion on a low-income pyramid vs. affluent pyramid? |
Anonymous
| If you like your house I would stay out. You'd be one mile closer to your dad. I'm missing how that would make much difference in caring for him, but maybe you could expand upon that. Otherwise it seems like a lot of hassle just to make sure your child isn't in class with some poorer kids. |
Anonymous
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My advice is don't make any decisions about HS before your children are even in elementary school.
This isn't a do or die situation, see how the Kindergarten year goes and move if you want to later... |
Anonymous
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Agree with the PPs -- your oldest is in pre-school. You are close to your dad. You like your house.
The here and now is you have an ailing dad. Will your ailing dad still be ailing in 5 to 10 years? Do you want to stack on a move (keeping the staged house clean, selling, finding another house, packing, moving, etc.) while caring for three kids and an ailing dad? I would stay put, at least for now, and revisit the issue in 5 years. |
Anonymous
| All I'm going to say is that if you move to the Wakefield Forest area there is a good chance you'll get rezoned to Poe/Annandale in a few years. |
Anonymous
| I'd move, but the big driver for me would be a sense of community in the area. We're actually looking around Wakefield Forest/Canterbury Woods should we be reassigned to NoVA next. I don't want to be somewhere where we don't feel part of a community. But that's just me. |
Anonymous
This is a lie. |
Anonymous
| I would stay put for now. I too was obsessed with moving BEFORE oldest went to kindergarten. Turns out it would have been fine to do K-1-2 at one school and switch. But I didn't know that when my oldest was 4. And I'd probably make a difference choice now than I did then, but we are not going to move since we like our house and everything is "good enough." |
Anonymous
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I am going to to against the flow and say move, especially since you have three kids. We live in a middling pyramid in FCPS but DS is in a good elementary. We knew this going in, and we figured before middle school we might want to move.
He has a lot of friends now though, and I am not sure moving him before middle school would be the right decision. The other thing is we have one child so if we are really unhappy with the options and don't want to move we have discussed private. I am not sure though if you would want to go that route with three kids though. |
Anonymous
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I actually think Falls Church HS is going to see better demographics within the next few years, since there's a fair amount of higher-dollar development zoned there. Plus the people I know whose kids actually went to Jackson and FCHS did have good things to say.
I wouldn't judge by the age of the school building itself - Langley looks pretty old too, unless it's been redone in the last few years since I drove by. We actually moved out of the Fairhill/Jackson/FCHS pyramid before my daughter hit kindergarten. The eventual school decision was somewhat of a factor, and I did consider homes feeding into Woodson. The bigger factor for me was trying to get a shorter commute into DC, and I cut my commute in half by moving to Arlington. (I also wanted more aftercare availability than Fairfax tends to have.) I think you're already pretty close to your dad, so I'm not sure that should be much of a factor here. It does sound like you would like a more inclusive, community feel and that might be worth moving. How much more would you have to pay to buy where you want? |
Anonymous
This was told to me by a staff member at Falls church high school. They also said the school board is screwed to favor the wealthier schools. |
Anonymous
I don't want to start my kid in a elementary school, build a foundation there and friends and then move though. I think that could be tough on a kid |
Anonymous
| Just a quick comment, we don't have the money to do private school, and I would like to begin in one school pyramid in kindergarten and complete that pyramid. I do not really want to switch my kids when they reach seventh grade and they've already made all their friends. |
Anonymous
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I faced this dilemma on a different scale when picking which university to attend. Make the move. It's better to have your child surrounded by peers who will challenge him/her, then be in a place where everything is too easy because teh other kids aren't keeping up.
Would you prefer your kid go to Princeton or Iowa State? They may find Princeton more difficult, but isn't that the point -- to be challenged? |
Anonymous
We just moved this past summer and our oldest started 7th grade. My kids were very against moving... ironically, I think the 7th grader has done the best adjusting to the move. I, as the mom, am having a harder time. I never really considered how much neighborhood/community knowledge I had built up over the years when the kids were young. Moving to a different area (still in FCPS), I feel a bit lost. When the kids were younger it was easier to meet other parents at playdates, bday parties, sports teams, scouts, and just taking the kids out to things in the community.... now, my kids aren't really doing those activities or don't want to go out (we can't just pick them up and put them in the car). I find it a lot harder to make "community" without little kids (or sporty kids). |